6io THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



as a nesting species and, whilst endeavouring to define its 

 distribution, it may perhaps be advisable to exercise a certain 

 amount of discretion in regard to its breeding areas, for 

 reasons which will be apparent to most ornithologists. 



According to Allis's correspondents (quoted above), it 

 formerly bred on the low-lying tract of Thome moor, and 

 may possibly still do so, as one or two pairs have been noted 

 in summer within recent ygars ; on the authority of Leyland 

 and Strickland it is mentioned as nesting near Halifax and 

 York ; Mr. S. L. Mosley informs me that his father took 

 the young at Booth Deane, above Sowerby Bridge ; he himself 

 found newly hatched young at Muker, Swaledale, in 1871, 

 and saw a pair of old birds on Standedge in the summer of 

 the year following. Another low-lying district where it 

 has nested, to my certain knowledge, for many years past, 

 is the marshland near the Teesmouth, though the breeding 

 birds are limited to a few pairs. I am not aware of 

 any other nesting locality in Cleveland, but on the fells of 

 Upper Teesdale the Dunlin breeds sparingly on the grassy 

 slopes of the hills, where I saw six pairs in June 1900, and 

 in 1902 a clutch of eggs was taken. 



In the higher reaches of Swaledale, Wensleydale, Yoredale, 

 Arkengarthdale, and Lunedale in the North Riding, and 

 the range of hills bordering on Westmorland and Lancashire, 

 including Ribblesdale and Wharfedale, Nidderdale, and south- 

 ward to the moors in the Sheffield neighbourhood, it nests 

 irregularly and sparingly, and in some parts to upwards 

 of 2,200 feet elevation. On these extensive fells and moors 

 there may be more breeding birds than the casual observer 

 imagines, for the nest is difficult to locate on such tracts of 

 wild and desolate country ; in one or two places it is in con- 

 siderable numbers, and my reticence respecting the precise 

 localities where the nest may be found will be understood 

 and appreciated, when it is stated that reliable information 

 has been supplied to the effect that unscrupulous persons 

 take advantage of the birds' confiding nature in the breeding 

 season to drive them into nets set for the purpose. 



The Dunlin, however, is best known as a shore bird, and 



